Lewis a



(No Model.) 7

L. A. TOOTH.

SEAL.

No. 533,879. Patented Feb. 12 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT Cri ics,

I LEWIS A. 'FOOTE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHICAGO CAR- SEAL AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SEAL. i

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 533,879, dated February 12, 1895. Application filed December 29, 1893- Seria'l No. 495,108. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS A. FOOTE, a citizen of the United States, residingat Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of seals in which a looped strip or shackle of frangible metal, adapted to he slipped through the door-securing means on a car (as the staple to which a hasp is applied) has its ends fastened in a head or socket in a manner tending to prevent withdrawal, so that the seal may not be removed, to permit access to the car through the door, without fracturing either the shackle or socket and thus displaying evidence of tampering when done surreptitiously.

The object of my improvement is to provide the socket-portionof the seal, whether formed of frangible material, such as glass or clay, or of metal, with a spring catch, secured within the socket, and involving a construction adapting it to permit readyengagement with it of the suitably formed ends of the shackle, but which shall efiectively preclude withdrawal of the shackle from the socket without either breaking or otherwise opening the latter, or breaking the shackle.

Referring to the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a seal-lock, or car-seal, constructed in accordance with my improvement, with the. shackle fastened in the socket. Fig. 2 is a section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrow, and showing theshackle broken. Fig.

3 is an enlarged perspective view of the springcatch separate from the socket. Fig. 4 is an enlarged broken perspective view showing the perforated ends of the looped shackle at which they engage the spring-catch in the socket.

A is the socket, shown as of rectangular shape, though that maybe varied without departure from my invention; and it may be formed of any suitable material.

B is the metal spring-catch permanently fastened within the socket, preferably by embedding it at the inner end in the material of which the socket is composed.

The spring-catch, as shown, comprises a rectangular strip of springy metal having the opposite ends bent to extend toward each other and to overlap one another at their rounded extremities, toward which they are deflected or curved slightly outward to in crease the resiliency of the inner extremity r and insure'its normal contactfwith the end 1:

which overlaps it, the bend in which also ren- -catch B, the ends (in which openings 0 are provided sufficie'ntly wide to receive the wid th of the strip of whichthe catch is formed) are inserted, one at a time, into the socket through its open end q until it has passed the end 1,

when it is drawn backward to slip it, at its I opening 0, over the end '1' and past the stop p. When both ends of the shackle have thus been lodged in the catch, any attempt to dis-' lodge them will cause ithem to abut against the stop; and in the possible event of either end being successfully passed by the stop, it

can not be withdrawn from within the loop afiorded by the catch, since the outer end r overlaps the innerend r. Thus a double safeguard is aiforded in the car-seal against separation, in an unimpaired condition, between the shackle and socket, the one by the stop 19 and the other by the relative situations of the ends 1" and 1" of the looped spring-catch.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is--'- 1 In a car-seal, the combination of a socket A, a spring-catch B confined in the socket and comprising a strip of springy metal having its ends bent toward and overlappingone another, a stop 19 extending into the path through the loop formed by the catch, and a shackle having its ends provided with openings 0, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

LEWIS A. FOOTE.

' In presence of M. J. FROST, W, U. WILLIAMS. 

